Word.ws English Dictionary

hems

hems is the plural of hem.

hems is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hem.

Meaning of hem

Noun (1)

hem (plural hems)

  1. An utterance or sound of the voice like "hem", often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention.
    • his morning hemsJanuary 8, 1712', John Dryden, The Spectator No. 269

Noun (2)

hem (plural hems)

  1. The border of an article of clothing doubled back and stitched together to finish the edge and prevent it from fraying.
  2. A rim or margin of something.
    • Entombed upon the very hem o' th' seac. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  3. In sheet metal design, a rim or edge folded back on itself to create a smooth edge and to increase strength or rigidity.

See all 10 meanings of hem

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Hems

Hems

  1. (plural) plural of Hem

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Hems

Hems

  1. (dated) Dated form of Homs: a city in Syria.

Noun capitalized: HEMS

HEMS

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of helicopter emergency medical service.

Origin of hems

From Ottoman Turkish حمص (Hıms) and Arabic حِمْص (Ḥims), ultimately from Ancient Greek Ἔμεσᾰ (Émesă), ultimately from Aramaic חֲמָת (Ḥamāth, “hindrance, frustration, fortress”) + צובָא (Ṣōwḇā, “near, surrounding, station”).

Phrases with hems

Questions about hems

What is hems the plural of?
Hems is the plural of hem.
What part of speech is hems?
Hems can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near hems in the dictionary

  1. hempwort
  2. hempworts
  3. hempy
  4. hemrods
  5. hemroid
  6. hems
  7. hems and hahs
  8. hems and haws
  9. hems in
  10. hems up
  11. Hemsby

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hems (page history and authors); Hems (page history and authors); HEMS (page history and authors); hem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hems.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hems. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.